Fossett searchers follow two 'strong' leads

Sep. 12, 2007

Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Page, right, addresses the media on the search efforts for Steve Fossett at the Minden Tahoe Airport with Major Ed Loocke of the Nevada Air National Guard in the background on September 12, 2007. / Patrick Cummings/Reno Gazette-Journal

Rescue aircraft and helicopters are continuing to follow strong leads this afternoon in the search for missing aviator Steve Fossett 10 days after he left the privately owned Flying M Ranch in Mason Valley south of Yerington.

Searchers are investigating a location identified by two separate sightings of a blue-and-white aircraft making a steep diving turn into a canyon and not climbing back out.

A Nevada National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter is searching the area of Sunrise Pass, 20 miles east of Minden. Douglas County search and rescue members also are sending ground patrols to search the area.

Aircraft scanned the area after the first sighting a few days ago and found nothing, but debris could be hidden by thick pine nut trees and brush, said Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini. After receiving another tip today, rescuers decided to send in foot patrols to scour the brush, he said.

“Sometimes it just takes a warm body to walk down the gully to see what you can see,” Pierini said.

At least 10 search and rescuers will be out in the Sunrise Pass area with a GPS monitor and radio equipment until sundown, he said.

The Blackhawk will have a medic on board who will be lowered if wreckage is found, said Capt. April Conway of the Nevada National Guard.

“If it is indeed the target we’ve been looking for, everybody and their brother will converge out there,” Conway said.

Following another tip, aircraft are searching the Sonora Pass south of Coleville after a camper reported hearing the sound of a plane fly overhead followed by an explosion on that same day, Page said.

Search teams are not ready to give up hope of finding the missing aviator alive, said Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Chuck Allen.

“With an avid survivalist like (Fossett) that would be pretty premature to call it a recovery effort,” Allen said. “We should let the resources we have in place do their job and do it thoroughly.”